[Illustration:  Fig. 89.  Rhipsalis funalis.]

R. Houlletii (Houllet’s); Bot.  Mag. 6089.—­Stems long, graceful, branching freely, round and twig-like, or with broad wings, as in Phyllocactus.  Winged or flattened portions notched, and bearing a flower in each notch.  Flowers stalkless, with pointed, straw-coloured petals, forming a shallow cup about 3/4 in. across the top.  Stamens and pistil white, with a tinge of red at the base.  Flowering-season, November.  Under cultivation, this Brazilian species forms a small, straggling shrub, about 3 ft. high, but in its native woods its stems are many feet long, and pendulous from the branches of trees.  It may be grown in a warm house, in a pot, and its branches supported by a stake; or its lower stems may be fastened against a piece of soft fern-stem, into which its numerous stem-roots penetrate freely.  In the winter it should be kept almost dry.  The flowers remain fresh for several days, and are fragrant.  A well-grown plant, when in flower, is an interesting and pretty object.  It is the most ornamental kind.

R. Knightii (Knight’s).—­Stems and joints as in R. commune.  Wings of joints usually broad, with red margins, and the hair in the notches in a dense tuft, nearly 1 in. long, pure white, and silk-like.  Flowers small, white.  This species, which thrives best under warm-house treatment, is a native of Brazil, and is usually grown only for its curious, Cereus-like stems.  It forms a straggling plant about 1 ft. high.  Syn.  Lepismium Knightii, Cereus Knightii.

R. mesembryanthemoides (Mesembryanthemum-like); Bot.  Mag. 3O78.—­A small, compact plant, with woody stems, densely covered with little fleshy, conical joints, resembling very closely the leaves of some of the Mesembryanthemums.  They are green, with a few red dots, each bearing a very small tuft of the finest hair-like spines.  The flowers are developed in March, from the sides of the small joints; they are 1/2 in. across, and yellowish-white.  Fruit a small, white, round berry.  Native of South America, whence it was introduced in 1831.  When grown in a warm house, in a small, round, wire basket, filled with peat and sphagnum, this little Cactus forms a pretty tuft, which in the spring produces large numbers of white, star-like flowers.

R. myosurus (mouse-tailed); Bot.  Mag. 3755.—­Stems dependent, several feet long, branching freely, jointed, with three or four angles or wings; the angles flattened, reddish, notched in the margin, and bearing a tuft of white, silky hairs in each notch.  Flowers small, yellow, tinged with red, springing from the notches; produced in July.  Fruit not seen.  A native of Brazil; introduced in 1839.  This species resembles some of the angular-stemmed kinds of Cereus.  It grows freely and flowers annually, if planted in a basket of fibrous soil, and suspended near the glass in a warm greenhouse or stove.  It is attractive even when not in flower, owing to the form of its stems and the tufts of long, silky, white hair which spring from the notches.  Syn.  Lepismium myosurus.